Peggy Guggenheim

Peggy Guggenheim
Peggy Guggenheim, c.1930, Paris, photograph Rogi André (Rozsa Klein). In the background, Notre Dame de Paris, and on the right, Joan Miró, Dutch Interior II (1928).
Born	Marguerite Guggenheim (1898-08-26)August 26, 1898 New York City
Died	December 23, 1979(1979-12-23) (aged 81) Camposampiero, Italy
Nationality	American
Known for	Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim (August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912, and the niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim, who would establish the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Peggy Guggenheim created a noted art collection in Europe and America primarily between 1938 and 1946. She exhibited this collection as she built it and, in 1949, settled in Venice, where she lived and exhibited her collection for the rest of her life. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and is one of the most visited attractions in Venice.

Both of Peggy's parents were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Her mother, Florette Seligman (1870–1937), was a member of the Seligman family. When she turned 21 in 1919, Peggy Guggenheim inherited US$2.5 million, about US$34.5 million in today's currency. Guggenheim's father, Benjamin Guggenheim, a member of the Guggenheim family, died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic, and he had not amassed the fortune of his siblings; therefore her inheritance was far less than the vast wealth of her cousins.

She first worked as a clerk in an avant-garde bookstore, the Sunwise Turn, where she became enamored of the members of the bohemian artistic community. In 1920 she went to live in Paris, France. Once there, she became friendly with avant-garde writers and artists, many of whom were living in poverty in the Montparnasse quarter of the city. Man Ray photographed her, and was, along with Constantin Brâncuși and Marcel Duchamp, a friend whose art she was eventually to promote.